I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 470 Please Increase Your Efforts (Two-in-one words)
At the same time, in the Han army camp.

"General Zhao, select a hundred smart men, ride the fastest horses out of the barracks, pretend to be smart, but actually blatantly clean up the battlefield in front of the Xiongnu."

Liu Ju saw the situation clearly from the temporary sentry tower. After the Xiongnu vanguard temporarily withdrew, he specially called Zhao Po Nu to assign him a new task.
"Don't take anything, just the arrows on the battlefield. If you find any signs that the Huns are sending troops to stop us, immediately mount your horse and return to the camp quickly. Don't give them any chance."

"This……"

Zhao Po Nu was somewhat puzzled when he heard this.

"Your Highness, don't we have five million arrows with us this time? I'm afraid we have more than enough to kill all the Xiongnu troops. Why do we have to send people out to take risks to get arrows?"

Now we have come into contact with this Hun army.

Zhao Po Nu had experience in fighting big battles, and just by looking at the size of the front army, he could roughly estimate the total number of this Xiongnu army.

According to his guess, the total enemy strength should be between 50,000 and 100,000.

Let's say there are 100,000 arrows. If these 5 million arrows are distributed to each enemy soldier, that would be 50 arrows.

That is to say, less than fifty arrows are enough to kill or injure one person, not to mention that the enemy army may not have hundreds of thousands of people. When going out to clean up the battlefield later, bringing back a few wounded Huns who were left on the battlefield and stuck in a dilemma, and interrogating them, you can get an exact number.

"You and I know how many arrows we brought this time, but does the enemy know?"

Liu Ju did not answer but asked instead.

"Your Highness means... I understand, I understand. Your Highness is wise!"

Zhao Po Nu was not a fool. After Liu Ju's suggestion, he thought about it for a while and immediately understood the significance of this move.
"Your Highness originally planned to take advantage of the situation. The Huns have already regarded us as a piece of fat meat at their fingertips."

"If you continue to play like this, Your Highness, the Huns will probably think that our army does not have enough arrows, and will only work harder to send them to our door to consume our arrows. Once the arrows are exhausted, they will swallow up this piece of fat meat of our army in one gulp."

"And the longer they waste time, the more the Huns feel that they are only one step away from running out of arrows. They will get to eat this piece of fat meat in the next moment. They are always looking forward to it and can't stop."

"Your Highness really understands people's hearts. I admire you!"

Liu Ju was in a good mood at the moment, so he took the opportunity to say a few more words to Zhao Po Nu:
"This move not only gives the Huns hope, but also continues to increase their sunk costs."

"Sunk costs?"

Zhao Po Nu looked puzzled again. It was another strange word.

Liu Ju smiled and said:
"The greater the price the Huns paid, the more they could not accept failure. Taking a step back would only make them more unwilling to accept it. The price they paid in this process is called sunk cost."

"Even if General Zhao has never gambled, he has seen gamblers, right?"

"For a gambler, the money lost is a loss, but if he does not continue to gamble to make up for his money, and the more he loses, the bigger he will gamble to make up for his money, because if he does not gamble again, the money he lost before will become a sunk cost."

"So, General Zhao should understand, right?"

"..."

When Zhao Po Nu heard this, his gaze towards Liu Ju changed again.

He felt that Liu Ju had already established his own school of thought.

What sect or school should be founded?

He founded a school of thought that studies human nature and psychology.

At least in Zhao Po Nu's understanding, there are many famous schools of thought, such as Confucianism respected by the current emperor, and Mohism, Legalism and other schools that once had a huge influence among countries, but there seems to be no school that specializes in the study of human nature and psychology.

Of course, it is also possible that he is ignorant.

After all, among the hundreds of schools of thought, he only knew of a few famous ones.

However, before he met Liu Ju, he had never seen anyone who could understand human nature and psychology so thoroughly, and express it so clearly, and use it so skillfully, as if it were as easy as breathing.

and so……

Zhao Po Nu suddenly felt that Liu Ju was particularly terrifying, and a sense of awe arose in his heart that he had never felt towards anyone before.

For a person like Liu Ju, if he was dissatisfied with someone or had the intention to kill him, it would be very easy for him to kill the other person. It might even be possible for him to be willing to die in comfort, and he might even be grateful to Liu Ju before he died.

The most important thing is that Liu Ju is still a prince.

And before the next crown prince is appointed, he is still the most legitimate heir to the throne.

Let’s see what Liu Ju owns?

Extraordinary wisdom, innate supernatural power, and the ability to see into human nature and psychology...

There may be something else that has not yet been expressed, or that has been expressed but he is not aware of it.

For example, until now Zhao Po Nu still hasn't figured out how he, as the commander-in-chief of the army, was quickly sidelined after the raid on Loulan... Even for a long time afterwards, he didn't realize that he had been completely sidelined.

It was not until this time when he led his army to follow Liu Ju to support the commander of Zhao Xincheng that he suddenly realized the situation and even became a supporter of Liu Ju.

But even so.

Zhao Po Nu did not think there was anything wrong with this, and was even willing to be used by Liu Ju.

And this is not just because Liu Ju is a noble prince and is superior to him.

There are other reasons that Zhao Po Nu has not figured out yet, all aspects and details, and he may not be able to figure them all out in his lifetime.

After all, he is not the only one who has become like this.

Wang Hui, Su Wu, Sima Qian, and later Han Zeng, Dongfang Yu and Zhao Qian...even including the general Wei Qing, seemed to obey Liu Ju's words without any burden.

Such a Liu Ju.

What can the other princes use to fight him?

Such a Liu Ju.

Who dares to imagine how terrifying it would be to become the Son of Heaven and master true power?

Such a Liu Ju.

Why was the emperor willing to depose him? Was he insane?

Can't figure it out.

I totally don’t understand…

……

Xiongnu camp. "My king, the general of the front army sent someone to report that a small group of Han soldiers had left the camp and were cleaning up the battlefield in advance."

A confidant ran into the tent of Zuo Xian Wang and reported the news to Wu Shilu.

"The war has just begun. Our army has only lost a few hundred soldiers who went to test the battlefield, but the Han army is already impatient to clean up the battlefield?"

Wu Shilu frowned, looking puzzled.

Although those hundreds of soldiers stayed less than 200 steps away from the Han army camp, and the battlefield was closer to the Han army, the Han army was now surrounded by 60,000 Xiongnu troops. It was a time when the Han army was in a panic, and they should not have the leisure to clean up the battlefield.

unless……

Wu Shilu had already thought of something, and immediately asked:

"Do you know how the Han army cleaned up the battlefield? Did they focus on recovering the arrows that were shot?"

"My king is truly as good as a god!"

The confidant said with some flattery and even exaggeration,
"The messenger from the general of the front army did mention this matter again. This small group of Han troops only brought back a few wounded Xiongnu soldiers."

"The rest of the people were just rushing to harvest, not even killing the remaining soldiers in our army. They just quickly collected the arrows on the battlefield. Some even pulled arrows directly from our wounded soldiers and horses, causing them to scream in pain. In the end, they were left on the battlefield like this..."

At this point, Wu Shilu suddenly stood up excitedly and laughed loudly:

"I knew it. I knew it a long time ago!"

"It seems that this Han Dynasty prince is not as stupid as I thought. He realized the most serious problem so quickly and has already started to think of ways to recover the arrows."

"In this case, if our army continues to harass, the Han army will definitely not dare to fire arrows at us as before. They will definitely put our army closer before shooting, so as to save limited arrows and kill our army more effectively."

"In addition, if my guess is correct, this Han Dynasty prince should have already started thinking about breaking out."

"After all, while we still have sufficient arrows, food and other supplies, our chances of escaping will be the highest."

"If we wait until our army runs out of arrows and food, it will be too late to leave, and we will just be fish on the chopping board."

"good, very good!"

"Pass on the king's order!"

"Order the generals of the front army to harass the Han army camp at least three times a day and at least six times a night, and continue to force the Han army to use powerful crossbows to fight back!"

"Especially at night, the Han army cannot tell how many of our troops there are, or even how close our troops are. Once they are harassed, they will shoot in panic like a frightened bird. This can reduce our casualties and also consume the Han army's arrows faster, leaving them with no arrows to use."

"Then order the general of the right army in the direction of Gushi to lead his troops to retreat thirty miles, place secret sentries in the desert, and set up an ambush on the road that the Han army might take to escape to Gushi."

"There is a strategy for besieging the enemy in the military manuals of the Han Dynasty, called 'Besieging the army means leaving a gap.'"

"Our front and left armies have been increasing the frequency and intensity of their attacks, leaving only a gap in the right army's direction. The Han army was desperate and found a chance to escape. Regardless of whether there was an ambush or not, they had to take the risk and try it, rather than having nowhere to escape and fight to the death with our army."

"As long as the Han army abandons this camp and flees, there will be ambushes blocking the way ahead and I will be chasing them from behind. In the end, they will be unable to take care of themselves and will be gradually wiped out by me. They will never be able to return to the Gu Shi they want to reach!"

……

So three days later.

Wu Shilu could no longer sit still, so he walked out of the central army and came to the front army to summon the general:
"General, what are the casualties of our army today?"

"My king, since this morning, our army has suffered more than 400 casualties..."

The eyes of the general of the vanguard army were full of bloodshot. Such frequent harassment naturally consumed not only the arrows and spirit of the Han army. As the general of the vanguard army, he was also under considerable mental pressure.

After all, Wu Shilu was already notorious when he was in the Xiongnu Dragon City.

When pushed to the limit, he would really be open-hearted to others, even the generals of the former army would not be taken seriously.

It’s just that the Huns did not have the cultural heritage of the Han Dynasty, so they could not think of the word “Li”, and no one would call him “Prince Li”.

"Another four hundred or so men, plus the losses of the right army, the number has reached seven hundred."

Wu Shilu's brows were already tightly furrowed.

During these three days, although the front army and the right army were harassing and luring arrows, their daily losses added up to more than one thousand.

Now, the Hun army of 60,000 has lost nearly 4,000 people.

So has the intensity of the Han army's crossbow counterattack decreased?
To be exact, there has been a decline.

Since the first day, the Han army never fired thousands of arrows at once regardless of the losses.

However, whenever the Hun army came to harass them, they would use powerful crossbows to fight back. The intensity of the counterattack depended on the intensity of the harassment. Sometimes thousands of arrows were fired at the same time, and sometimes only a few hundred.

In addition, the Xiongnu army also prevented the Han army from leaving the camp to "clean up the battlefield."

They always kept a cavalry roaming around the battlefield and outside the range of the Han crossbows. Whenever they found a small group of Han troops leaving the camp, they would immediately charge and force them back.

"My king, I'm afraid we can't go on like this."

The general of the front army said in embarrassment,
"In the past two days, our army has taken turns to harass them. Many soldiers have been injured each time, but they have been unable to kill the Han people hiding in the barracks. Now some people have begun to disobey orders."

"I dare not hide it from King Zuo Xian. During the attack an hour ago, dozens of people from a small Xianling tribe refused to obey orders. I had no choice but to order the supervisory team to behead all of them to establish my authority."

"Although this is a small matter, it is enough to show that such tragic casualties have made some people in the army afraid of fighting, which has greatly affected the morale of our army."

"If this continues, I'm afraid the situation will only get worse. I'm worried that it will be difficult to maintain the morale of the troops."

Wu Shilu didn't seem to take it to heart, he just nodded and said:
"We must persevere no matter what. According to my calculations over the past few days, the Han army will need to consume at least 100,000 arrows every day under our army's continuous harassment."

"And how many arrows can the Han army carry on a single expedition?"

"Based on our army's previous experience fighting the Han army, as well as the confessions of Han Dynasty surrendered generals, every time the Han army went on an expedition, the standard equipment for a crossbowman was 20 arrows."

"So even if all of these 10,000 Han soldiers were crossbowmen, they would only carry 200,000 arrows."

"Even if the one coming this time is a Han Dynasty prince, and the Han Dynasty emperor has given him sufficient armaments and brought some extra arrows with him, it definitely cannot exceed 500,000 arrows, right?"

"At least 100,000 arrows are consumed every day. It has been three days. I am afraid that the Han army has very few arrows left."

"I estimate that in two days at most, the Han army will have to launch a final fight before their arrows are completely exhausted. I have already made arrangements for this. By then, the Han army will be completely annihilated, and the Han prince will definitely pay the price for this!"

"So at such a critical moment, you must not only hold on for me, but also continue to increase your strength. Do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)